Fitted bedsheets which are applied in form-fitting relationship with respect to a bed mattress usually include elastic bands extending along the edges of the head and foot portions of the skirt of the bedsheet or along the edges of the side portions of the skirt of the bedsheet which draw the skirt of the sheet tight about the bed mattress.
The usual prior art procedure for sewing the corner structures and for applying the elastic bands to fitted bed sheets comprises manual handling of the segments of sheet material as the sewing steps are performed. Typically, the elastic bands are stretched and sewn to the cut head and foot edge portions of the segments of sheet material. The side edge portions or the head and foot edge portions can be folded over into overlying relationship with the segment and then a diagonal line stitch formed at all four corners of the segment of sheet material, thereby completing the fitted bed sheet. One of the more expensive aspects of the fabrication of fitted sheets is the manual handling of the bed sheet after it has been cut from a supply and as it is sewn by the operator in a sewing machine. The operator must manipulate the large segments of sheet material when performing the sewing functions.